Boxing Records That May Never Be Broken!

April 4th, 2018 Bad Brad

By Faisal “Fayz” Masood

Anthony Joshua has got off to a fast start in his career, holding multiple world titles he had knocked out everyone of his first 20 opponents, despite failing to KO Joseph Parker in his 21st fight, he did add another belt to his waist, taking the WBO belt from the previously undefeated Parker and “AJ” is still one of the most feared punchers in the game today. But Joshua had a long way to go if he wanted to get close to breaking records for the longest KO streak or most ever knockouts. They say records are meant to be broken but in this article I take a look at five records in the sport of boxing that may never be broken.

5. Most Consecutive KO’s

It should come as little surprise that the record for most consecutive knock outs belongs to a heavyweight boxer. What is surprising is that very few will have ever heard of who the owner of this record is. His name is Lamar Clark and he was an American heavyweight who boxed between 1958 and 1961. The streak of 44 straight knockouts does include unsanctioned fights and it also included 27 debutants. His final fight was against a name we all recognize – Cassius Clay (at the time), who ended the fight and with it Clark’s short career in the second round.

4. Most Ever Knockouts

Archie Moore is one of the greatest light heavyweight boxers in history and will also go down as one of the all time great boxers. Moore had a career which spanned across four decades (1935-1963) and amassed over 180 wins in his career. Along the way he picked up a staggering number of knock outs, with the numbers quoted as being between 131-145 with 132 being the most commonly used figure. Whatever the number, Moore proved that the last trait to leave a boxer is his power as he collected knock outs across the divisions and over the decades, fighting into his 40’s. To put this into perspective, when you think of knockouts, Mike Tyson probably isn’t too far from your thoughts and rightly so, Tyson was an explosive puncher who provided a highlight reel of KO’s over his career, Archie Moore had 3 times as many knockouts as Mike Tyson’s 44.

3. Youngest Ever Champion

That takes us nicely onto the next record. We all know Mike Tyson was the youngest ever heavyweight champion when he dethroned Trevor Berbick for the WBC title at the age of 20. But why do so many not know the name of the man who was the youngest ever champion in boxing history?

In fact, saying he was a man which implies he was an adult, but in reality he was a teenager, a real life Peter Parker for his Spiderman like spidey senses to avoid punches at the last moment and would become one of the greatest defensive wizards and natural talents boxing has ever seen. Wilfred Benitez was only 17yrs old when he beat the future hall of famer “Kid Pambele” Antonio Cervantes for the WBA light welterweight title.

Benitez would go onto become a multi weight world champion and the one they nicknamed “El Radar” would fight great battles with legends such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran. If there was ever a fifth member to be added to the previous three names and Marvin Hagler of the famed ‘Fantasic Four’, it would have been Wilfred Benitez.

2. Most Ever Fights

In today’s age, with the abundance of money for top flight fighters there will never be a need to fight double digit times in a year. In years gone by, fighters would be entering the ring every month, many times multiple times per month, it wasn’t just about money, it was about creating a legacy. The game has changed and now the emphasis is on building a business and maximising your returns as a prizefighter. This is no bad thing so long gone are the days when legends such as Sugar Ray Robinson and Willie Pep, had to endure over 200 professional fights. Now, when a fighter has become champion and can earn millions per fight, you will be lucky to see them competing inside the squared circle three times a year, which over the course of a career, including an active start really means only around 40-50 fights.

By contrast, even the numbers put up by Sugar Ray Robinson and Willie Pep pale in comparison to the record of most ever fights. This record belongs to the English lightweight Len Wickwar, who fought a mind boggling 469 times(or 470 depending on which source you believe). Wickwar would sometimes fight more than once on the same night and the record is all the more staggering when you realise his career was put on hold during World War II else the number would have crossed 500 and many many more.

1. Longest Ever Boxing Match

With the number of rounds in a bout now topping off at 12, it is safe to say this is a record which will never be broken. On April 6 1893, Andy Bowen and Jack Burke were involved in a fight which lasted a soul destroying 110 rounds and yes, each round was three minutes long. In total the fight lasted over seven hours and 19 minutes before the referee finally was forced to wave the fight off with both boxers too exhausted to come out of their corners. For all their efforts and the broken hands sustained by Burke, the fight was ruled as a no contest. This April isn’t just the 125th anniversary of the bout, but also marks 76 years since Burke passed. Unfortunately, his opponent in the record setting fight would die the following year aged 27 from injuries sustained in the ring, hitting his head on the wooden canvas when suffering a knock down against Kid Lavigne.

Check out Fayz’s available books for download on Amazon. He also runs his own Personal Training site and blog over at Fayz Fitness.